Non-oil sector currently accounts for over 50 per cent of revenues accruing to Nigeria’s federation accounts since recession started, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has said.
A Commissioner at RMAFC, Sanya Omiri, revealed this when officials of the agency paid a courtesy call on Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson, a Government House statement said on Wednesday.
The RMAFC officials were received by the state’s deputy Governor, Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd) on behalf of Governor Dickson.
Omiri said the sector was expected to contribute more with the ongoing efforts of the Federal Government’s to diversify the economy.
Omiri, however, noted that the state could move up to an appreciable position and increase its share of the 13 per cent derivation from non-oil revenue, if all leakages were blocked with illegal miners captured into the tax net.
He said, “The team was in the state to verify and ascertain all the mining companies, number and duration of mining leases issued to each operator.
“We are also here to determine means of increasing revenue generation from mining and solid mineral exploration, among other terms of reference.”
In his remarks, Dickson, represented by Jonah, described the ongoing nationwide exercise embarked upon by the commission to ascertain sources of revenues accruable from the non-oil sector to the Federation Account, as a step in the right direction.
The governor, who implored the team to do a thorough job, expressed optimism that the exercise, if properly conducted, would open new vista of opportunities to all the state governments to discover and harness alternative sources of revenue.
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